Latest blog articles

The advancement of big data may lead to a revolution in the health sector by enabling the personalization of medicine. However, there are still uncertainties regarding the ownership of the data available, and also whether users should be entitled to compensation for the utilisation of their data.

The recent cancellation decision of the word mark “BigMac” by the EUIPO Cancellation Division has raised several questions:  is use of a trade mark on a website sufficient to fulfil the requirement of making genuine use of the mark? Or is evidence of sales required?

With the development of international trade, local products have started to spread all around the world and become popular worldwide. Geographical indications (GIs) are meant to protect the use of the name that indicates certain characteristics and the origin of products typical for a particular...

Artificial Intelligence has become a key player in today's society, especially with regards to technological and medical advances. However the question is, has the current patent system been able to provide suitable protection for inventions relying on Artificial Intelligence without human input?

In a little more than one week we saw a series of judgements and a European Commission decision that may again test the limits of the European Union's state aid system in its application to matters of direct taxation.

The need to guarantee the free flow of information in a Big Data economy forces us to re-think Intellectual Property Rights and find an appropriate balance between competition, innovation, privacy and incentives.

Current developments in the area of cross-country joint audits could reduce administrative burdens and enhance legal certainty. But, what are joint audits? This contribution shortly elaborates on the concept and the current developments of joint audits that could facilitate a cross-country concept...

Recent events suggest that the Eurozone may soon be entering a new phase of its short but already tumultuous life. As the dust of the sovereign debt crisis starts settling, and the continent slowly returns to growth, winds of change are blowing across the zone, and EMU reform is back on the EU...

On 21 June 2017, the European Commission released its Proposal on transparency rules for tax intermediaries. It primarily seeks to address concerns raised by the ECOFIN Council and the European Parliament in trying to investigate and tackle the role of intermediaries in tax evasion and tax avoidance...

Together with experts from the various disciplines, ITEM made an inventory of the problems encountered by cross-border workers in the areas of taxation, social insurance and pensions. The committee offered 39 recommendations for solving these problems.